Buhlers Face Each Other Friday

From the Capital-Journal:

Through more than 30 years of marriage and husband Steve Buhler’s long career as a high school football coach, Shelly Buhler has been one of his biggest supporters.

On Friday night, though, Shelly will be cheering for the other guys, and Steve is just fine with that.

Shelly Buhler, a longtime Shawnee County Commissioner, is in her first year as Hayden’s president and will be on the Wildcats’ side of the field when 1-1 Hayden hosts 2-0 Washburn Rural, coached by Steve.

“She’s a very dedicated person, she’s a very loyal person,″ Steve Buhler said of Shelly. “She’s already told me, ‘I hope you have a great year, just not this one week.’ ”

“We’re both going to be professional about this and we’re both going to be doing our jobs to the best of our ability,″ Shelly said.

Hayden-Washburn Rural has turned into one of the city’s top rivalries, but Steve Buhler said the Buhlers have tried to approach this week as just another game.

“There’s not much talk about it,″ Steve said. “Shelly doesn’t worry about what I’m doing over here per se and she’s got enough going on that we really don’t talk much business. And this sounds crazy, but we really don’t talk a lot of football.

“I think both of us are going to give each other a little extra space this week, because joking around or whatever with people and everything else, we don’t want that to be part of the equation. We just want it to be about our kids vs. the Hayden kids and the programs and we’ll be happy with a great ballgame.″

Football has always been a big part of life in the Buhler household, with Steve and Shelly’s sons, Mitch and Matt, starring for Steve at Rossville and playing at Washburn.

The Buhler’s daughter, Maura, is also involved in sports and is participating in track and field at Benedictine.

But Steve and Shelly Buhler said their jobs are about much more than just athletics.

“In the scheme of the education process and what she’s involved in and what I’m involved in, the game is important, but at the same time there’s a lot bigger issues involved with the schools and the kids and all those kinds of things,″ Steve said. “That’s why we’re involved in it. She loves Hayden as a school and wants all their programs to do really well.″

“The fact of the matter is we’re both supportive of education and both supportive of students and student-athletes,″ Shelly said. “We both went to a catholic college (Benedictine) and met there and both of us I think have lived our faith and served our communities in a number of different ways. It just so happens that we’re in these places at this point in time and he’s supportive of Washburn Rural and I’m definitely supportive of Hayden and the great tradition of Hayden.″

The Buhlers are no strangers to needing to temporarily put family allegiances aside for football.

Shelly’s brother, Matt Westerhaus, is the athletic director at Junction City, which has faced Centennial League rival Rural several times during Steve’s six seasons at the school.

In fact, Rural and Junction City faced off last Friday, with the Junior Blues rallying for a 34-24 victory, their first over the Blue Jays under Buhler.

“It’s kind of funny because sometimes my mom and dad will pick a side (to sit on), you kind of have to,″ Shelly said. “My dad was a coach for a long time and we’re competitive, don’t get me wrong, but when it comes to family I think we’re all just supportive of everybody being fair and being professional and that comes just from being around family that’s been involved in athletics for a long, long time.″

While Friday will be a big night for both Hayden and Washburn Rural, Shelly Buhler admits that in some ways she’ll be happy to get the game finished and things returning to normal.

“I will be probably glad when it’s behind us,″ she said. “I think it makes it a little more intense because Steve is coaching this particular sport, but we’ll wake up the next day and we’ll both go back to doing our jobs and hopefully doing our jobs well.″